Help to make a choice.

[Seashell12]

With a budget 10k , what should I pay attention to? I like D.Vache Grace Halo,platinum it's about 3 k. Center diamond i want 3 ex, gia, what size of diamond should i look? Should I go with 18 k setting and upgrade for bigger stone?

Tell me please your thought.

 

[Ravinmad]

3,000 plat setting, so you're talking about 7,000 for a stone.

http://www.goodoldgold.com/diamond/8703/ 7800 .96ct F color stone

 

[distracts]

Unless something has changed recently, the price difference between the Vatche settings in 18k and platinum is not so great that by going with 18k you'd be saving a ton of money. Okay I just googled it and the price difference seems to be about $300, which won't buy you much more diamond. Or any more, really. You definitely have enough left over for an ideal cut 1 ct.

I know Good Old Gold, Whiteflash and High Performance Diamonds carry Vatche settings (and even if you don't see the Grace on the site they can still get it for you), so here are some potential stones:

1.01ct I SI1, 6.53x6.52mm, $7,100 - http://www.goodoldgold.com/diamond/9178/
1.01ct I SI1, 6.39x6.42mm, $6,857 - http://www.whiteflash.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut-loose-diamond-2671396.htm
1.05ct J SI1, 6.53x6.59mm, $7,088 - http://www.highperformancediamonds.com/index.php?page=view-id-diamond-infinity&id=857
1.09ct H SI2, 6.52x6.52mm, $7,365 - Star129 (which is why it looks different) - http://www.goodoldgold.com/diamond/9079/ (here's a video on the Star129 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Oxjso7QwPE so you can see what one looks like)
1.27ct J SI1, 6.90x7.05mm, $5,083 - http://www.goodoldgold.com/diamond/9195/ (this guy isn't the best looker in the picture but the ASET shows that it's still an ideal light returner, so it could be an option if you're okay with the slight wonkiness - it has an AGS grade, not a GIA one but would probably fall under GIA ex/ex/ex)

If you like any of the Good Old Gold diamonds, you should give them a call and see if they can do a comparison video for you of them.

My choices would be either the 1.01 GOG diamond or the 1.05 HPD diamond, unless you like the performance of the Star129 or really want to eke out an extra half a millimeter of size. If you're okay with ones that aren't basically all super-ideal (but still fall within GIA ex/ex/ex), then you could probably find more like that 1.27 elsewhere.